THE LETTERS OF JOHN 1. Three Reasons for John s Letters (1John 1:1-2; 2:3-4; 1:10; 5:13) 2. Three Reasons for John s Letters (Continued) 3. The Man Who Hated Heresy (2John 10-12) 4. Preaching the Right Jesus (1John 1:1-4) 5. Jesus Crucified and Crowned (1John 1:7; 2:1-2) 6. Our Returning Redeemer (1John 2:28; 3:2-3) 7. Claiming Salvation While Living In Sin (1John 1:3-6; 3:7-10) 8. The Life of Joy and Forgiveness (1John 1:3-4; 1:7-2:2) 9. To Know Him Is To Obey Him (1John 2:3-6; 5:2-3) 10. The One Command We Must Obey ( 2:5, 7-11; 3:16-19) 11. The Nature of Love (2:7-11; 3:11-19) 12. Come On Everybody! (2:12-14; 2 John 4) 13. Between Weird and Worldly (2:15-17) 14. The Spirit of The Antichrist (2:18-19; 4:3; 2John 7) 15. The Power of Lies (2:18-27) 16. Living Looking Up (2:28-3:3) 17. Setting Troubled Hearts at Rest (1 John 3) 18. The Believer s Birthmarks (1 John 4-5) 19. Prayer The Great Adventure (3:21; 5:14-16a) 20. The Sin Unto Death (1John 5:16-17; Luke 6:14) 21. A Good Pastor (2John; 3John)
II. The Christian Life 1 Jn. 1:3-6; 1. The Fellowshipping Life 3:7-10 CLAIMING SALVATION WHILE LIVING IN SIN 1 Jn. 1:3-6 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete. This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. I Jn. 3:7-10 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil s work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. We turn now from the Christian faith to the Christian life. Gnostics, like many people today, felt they could live a life of willful disobedience and self pleasing and go to heaven. John, however, says that our New Birth from God makes this not only unlikely, but impossible (3:7-10). He also says Christianity is personal fellowship with God and a God of moral light has no relationship as Father to those who walk in darkness (1:6). Application: If we were in a bar where the names of God and Jesus were blasphemed, where talk was of adultery and hatred of minorities, we would feel out of place. We would have no fellowship. I discovered this right after I became a Christian.
My old friends and I had nothing in common. I didn t feel like I was any better than them. But I was different and we were no longer interested in the same things. THERE WAS NO FELLOWSHIP anymore. Sadly, not all church members feel this way. Look first at... I. THE MORAL FAILURE (1:6) 1. Salvation s Horrible Portrayal A sad fact today is,there is very little difference in the moral and ethical lives of people who go to church and claim to be Christian and those who don t. In so many cases when it comes to love, fairness and helping the fallen members of society, nonchurch people often outdo church people. In Jesus parable of the Good Samaritan, it was the religious crowd that had better things to do than help a fallen man. Evangelical Christianity equating an experience with Christianity, when it preaches grace tells a sinful person, If you have accepted Christ, you are saved. But this sinful life you are living means you are missing God s blessings. Sometimes, in the case of backsliders like Lot and David, this is true. But these men were tortured constantly by their sins (Ps. 51:32; 2 Pet. 2:7). This is a far cry from the proud, indifferent church members of our day who feel its alright or natural for them to sin and be a Christian. To them we ought to have the courage to say, If you were really saved, then you would not be living like this. They would accuse us of judging, but we would be saying just what John says, If we claim to have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie... (1:6) Friendship is based on living right as we walk with God. The same is true of relationship. To be born of God, John says, so changes who a person is that he cannot go on sinning because he has been born of God (3:9). From the very beginning people have believed they can come to church, say the right words, live in sin and go to heaven. And God has been saying from day one - no you can t. As Jesus
tells us, on the day of Judgment He will say to preachers, Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord. will enter the kingdom of heaven but only he who does the will of my Father... away from me, you evil doers. (Mt. 7:22, 23) 2. Sin s Habitual Practice (1:6; 3:8-10; 1:8-10) This does not mean Christians are perfect. John and no other New Testament writer teaches perfection. We must remember John is talking about habitual sin as a way of life. In verse six he speaks of those who walk (order their lives) in darkness and do not live by the truth. The verbs in 3:7-10 are in the present tense and mean continual actions. Listen to the amplified Bible, No one born of God deliberately, knowingly and havitually practices sin... (3:9). We must be clear here and note the difference between living in sin and committing acts of sin. We all sin every day, not just in falling short of being like Jesus but in the things we say, do and think. That s why Jesus tells us in the model prayer to pray, Forgive us our sins (Mt. 6:12). That s why John says anyone who claims they have not sinned, make God a liar, and anyone who says he doesn t have sin in him, is a liar (1 Jn. 1:8-10). The Tension We live the Christian life in the tension between Mt. 5:48, Be ye therefore, perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect (KJV) and Lk. 17:4. That s why Jesus tells us in the model prayer to pray, Forgive us our sins (Mt. 6:12). That s why Luke 17 tells us to forgive someone 70 X 7 (=490) times a day if he repents. The implication is that God will do the same for us since Eph. 4:32 tells us to forgive others as Christ has forgiven us. Stay at Mt. 5:48, where you always see perfection, and you become rigid and legalistic or guilt ridden. Stay at Lk. 17:4 where you always seek forgiveness and you became shame filled and a disgrace to the name Christian. Illustration: Early in my Christian life I learned the difference in committing acts of sin and living in sin. I remembered an
event from my past. I was drinking beer and fishing with some friends. It was lightning and one friend said to me, Man, quit taking God s name in vain in this lightning! I didn t even know I was. Taking God s name in vain was so much a part of who I was that I didn t even know when I did it and I wasn t ashamed nor afraid in a boat while it was lightning. I describe my new birth change like this, If I stumbled at night, broke my toe, and hit my head or the TV and broke it, I can t promise you I wouldn t say God s name in vain, but I promise you this, I would be ashamed and ask God to forgive me and get that sin out of my life. I used to live in sin but now I commit acts of sin that lead to repentance, confession, forgiveness and growth. The problem is, there are people who call themselves Christians, who still live in sin whether it s profanity, racism, gossip, dishonesty, pornography, hypocrisy, pride, etc. They are not part of God s family fellowship and show little evidence of being born again. They have a sentimental fellowship with the good Lord as they live in sin. However, true Christianity is... II. THE MORAL FELLOWSHIP (1:3-6) John, like other religions, called the evil of this universe darkness and the good light. Out text says God and Christ are on the side of light and right. That s why John says, God is light (1:5) and God is love (4:16). To say you can live in sin and be friends or children of this God is ludicrous. It goes against everything He is and stands for. Can you imagine being with Jesus Christ and ask Him to watch a porno film with you or falsify a gas ticket for your expense account? Would He get drunk with you and curse with you and tell dirty or racist jokes with you? You know the answer. If not listen to John. This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to
have fellowship with him yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light...we have fellowship...and the blood of Jesus...purifies us from every sin. (1:6, 7) Listen to Paul: For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord, live as children of light... in all goodness, righteousness and truth (Eph. 5:8, 9). With emphatic emotion John says, God is light and in him there is no darkness at all (1:5) and later he says, God is love (4:16). Think of the nicest, most loving, best, most understanding, most sacrificial, most helpful, most patient, kindest person you know. Multiply that a million times and you get a tiny glimpse into the spotless heart of goodness and love that IS God. And when we are saved we join God in the light. The Bible says, For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord, live as children of light... in all goodness, righteousness and truth (Eph. 5:8, 9). We cannot emphasize this enough - God is good! God is goodness. Why is this so important? Because the kind of relationship, the kind of religion we have, will be determined more than anything else by WHAT WE BELIEVE ABOUT WHO GOD IS. A. W. Tozer says what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. Listen to his splendid definition of idolatry, The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him. (The Knowledge of the Holy, p. 11). And just about the most unworthy thing we can and often do say of God is that He doesn t care if we sin habitually and willfully. III. THE MIRACULOUS FOLLOWSHIP (1 Jn. 3:7-10) The miracle of the new birth so changes our character and desires that we cannot live in a state of habitual sin. God keeps us through character. David did not LIVE in sin. He committed two great acts of sin - adultery and murder. Then he lived a year
in the hell of guilt, illness and fear (Ps. 51:32). Every child of God knows he can and he does sin at times. But every true child of God knows he cannot live his life habitually living in sin. Sin and sins INTRUDE into a Christian s life but they cannot RULE or live there without a fight. THE MESSAGE FOR US All this talk about good works is distressing to God s good people. We are so conscious of our badness and blind to our goodness that we doubt our salvation. Wiersbie well says a growing Christian sins less and less and confesses more and more. How then can we find assurance? How can we know if we are committing acts of sin or living in sin? 1) Look at Your Life and Be Honest Do you admit your sins. John says people who feel they are not evil are liars and don t know their Bibles (8-10). This does not mean you are not a Christian. That is why Jesus put Forgive us our sins in the model prayer. The important thing is how you feel about it. Do you hate it and fight it? Are you ashamed? Do you feel a wedge between you and Christ when you try to pray? Also, are you growing in some areas? Can you honestly say, I am not what I ought to be or what I hope be, but thank God I am not what I used to be. 2) Look At Your Lord (v. 7). When you sin, and try and fail and sin again, and the devil tells you, you are his and not God s, say, The blood of Jesus cleanses me of all sin. Macartney tells of a liberal Protestant preacher he knew who believed and taught that the death of Jesus was not necessary for our salvation. We are Christians, he said, if we try and live like Jesus. The finest, most loving lady he ever knew lay dying. He went to her and spoke glowingly of how good she was and how proud Jesus was of all she had done, and how because of her goodness and love, she was going to heaven. That beautiful saint
gently laid her hand on his and said, Pastor, tell me about the sinner s Savior, not the saint s. All I can think of is what I haven t done for my Lord. The Pastor said, I told her and I told myself because we both needed to hear it. We will never go to heaven without the fruits of a Christlike life, but we would never in a million years trust in our Christlike life. We trust in the cross.